RatSLAM

Researchers in Australia have used biologically inspired SLAM (simultaneous localization and mapping) to create maps for robots.  Accurately mapping environments is essential to robotics and thus there is a ton of research into 3D SLAM.    The unique inspiration for Dr. Milford's approach, actual rats.  He wanted to implement a SLAM approach where robots learn the environment in a similar way to how you, I, or rats (for that matter) learn their environment.  I first heard about RatSLAM a few months ago while talking to a professor at Georgia Tech, then today I came across this video which is a demonstration of what Dr. Milford's algorithms are capable of.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-0XSUi69Yvs